Win at East Hampton Puts Southampton Girls Basketball Back in Line for Postseason Berth

The Southampton girls basketball team pulled out a 58-56 victory at East Hampton on Monday night, putting the team back on track to secure a Suffolk County Class B postseason berth with four games remaining on their schedule, as of Tuesday morning.

The Mariners built up a 37-21 halftime lead on the Bonackers, but, to their credit, turned things around in the second half, where they outscored the Mariners, 35-21. But sophomore Daelyn Palmore, who led all scorers on Monday with 25 points, sunk a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to secure the victory. Cecelia Ginsburg, a senior, added 15 points and junior Amadyah Palmore chipped in with eight.

“We’re still in the hunt,” Southampton head coach Richard “Juni” Wingfield said. “The overtime loss the other night to Pierson makes it a little more difficult, but we’re always knowing that it’s one game at a time.”

The much needed victory on Monday evened the Mariners record at 5-5 in League V (7-9 overall) and comes after a tough 54-50 overtime loss at home to Pierson/Bridgehampton on January 18. In that game, Southampton had five players foul out, four of whom were starters, which certainly played a part in their 13-point halftime lead slowly evaporating in the second half.

Wingfield compared the game to last year’s playoff game at Center Moriches, in which his team led at the beginning, but foul trouble became a huge factor leading to a loss.

“I love, love those kids over there at Pierson. They’ve got a lot of talent and I’m rooting for them. I guess you could say we’re rooting for each other,” he said. “But when you’re at home and you go into OT, our problem goes back to the second half where we had a 13-point cushion. We didn’t need to be pressing. My girls this year just don’t have that type of motor. And I thought they had that type of energy, but then the check engine light came on. So we’re going to have to apply a different style on our end. With a 13-point lead, there is no point we should be in a 2-1-2 press and picking up more fouls.”

Southampton needs to win two of its final four games to finish with an even .500 record, with three of those four games at home. The Mariners host Center Moriches this Thursday, January 26, at 6:15 p.m., host Greenport/Southold this Monday, January 30, at 4 p.m., play at Mattituck on February 1 at 5:45 p.m., and then host Babylon in the regular season finale on February 7 at 4:30 p.m.

The Suffolk County Class B playoffs are tentatively scheduled to begin February 17.

Wingfield said the landscape in League V has changed so much since the beginning of the season due to a lot of injuries to a number of key players throughout the county.

“The good news is we have a lot smart girls and we start nine seniors out there,” Wingfield said. “Our destiny is in our hands. If we play smart and just play hard, we hope at the end of the day we reach seven [wins].”